Many, many years ago I stopped making New
Year’s resolutions: on the whole they are just a list that serves to frustrate
oneself in the following days, weeks and months as inevitably most are ignored,
forgotten or otherwise not followed.
This year was no exception, until I got to
thinking.
In many ways 2015 will be a year of
extraordinary harking back to the past, dealing with the present and looking
towards the future for me personally. Was going to do my usual colons and semi
colons until I realized that what with the ()’s I would be creating a monster
of a paragraph so changed tack, which I am sure will allow for more clarity –
or at least the potential thereof.
We will commemorate (glad I found that word
as “celebrate” didn’t really ring quite true and is in fact the opposite of the
emotions involved) the death of my husband; he would have turned 80 shortly
after this anniversary and there are still many people beside my sons, and
myself who remember: continuity. Amongst
them his only still surviving sibling, his sister. Surely I will visit.
I myself look back over my lifetime of a
professional life that was anything but boring as I finally and officially
“retired” Dec.10th. At some
point I may entertain myself listing all the jobs both large and small – or
not. At one point before the world
enlarged measurably types of employment due to the boom in technology my
husband and I reckoned that between ourselves we had covered a great many.
So although there will be many thoughts of
the past, the present (and at this point future as well) will be chock-oh-block
full of fun, friends and family.
This year will see many visits in spite of
my self-determined “Hotel Julia is closed” ban: my housemate and her husband
(she of course belongs, he is still a guest although in the best sense of the
term); a new friend with origins and cousins in Switzerland (will be very
entertaining to compare notes); hopefully my DIY cousin W together with another of our cousins
S; perhaps a couple of friends made when Hotel
Julia was a going concern; and a highlight in the fall with (at least they
are currently planning it) the visit of two of my American nephews and their
significant others (saves having to say wife and girlfriend – but I couldn’t
resist anyway). Added to that the odd night when my older son is in between
trips and he can’t access his flat, and the more permanent presence of my
younger son.
Returning to the past: I am awarding myself
a medal as I managed to get through a whole year without any medical mishaps.
My goal this year would be more of the same please!
The very recent past: as I stayed in town
for Christmas it was lovely. Celebrated with the boys Christmas on the 19th
(even getting just the three of us together in the same spot at the same time
is not always easy); Christmas Eve saw us up at good friends for raclette –
somewhat of a miracle to actually find a date that accommodated me, my two
sons, my friend and her husband and her two children along with her father;
Christmas day we hosted lunch and enjoyed the company of my upper neighbors and
their son.
But what really made me reflect upon my
enormous luck and how I want my life to continue were the events surrounding
New Year. I had not planned anything at all, but at the last minute had the
Christmas Eve friends “drop by for a drink on your way home from the hospital”
(all is, if not perfect, stable), which led to calling one of my
coffee-in-the-village pals and then, when I was leaving mid-afternoon to run
some errands, also saw the upper neighbors and invited them as well: an
impromptu event that turned out very well. Yesterday I was offered a ride up to
St.Cergue – sun (!!!), snow enough to make it picturesque, fondue for lunch
then a visit to new friends in a chalet up the hill. Today it will be a water park with the boys
followed by a meal in the old town.
I only have one resolution or wish: that my
year continues as it ended and began - in the company of friends and family!
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| January 1, 2015 |
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